A captured U-190 floats in St. John’s Harbour, Nfld., in June 1945.
[Edward W. Dinsmore/DND/LAC/PA-145584]

Who knit ya?

STORY BY STEPHEN J. THORNE

Nestled away on the top two floors of a four-storey stone-and-brick building overlooking the St. John’s waterfront, just a few metres from the Newfoundland National War Memorial, is a piece of Second World War history unlike any other.

Fifty-nine precarious steps up the back of the former warehouse, the Seagoing Officers’ Club, established by Captain Rollo Mainguy—a B.C. native commanding Canadian navy destroyers in the British colony of Newfoundland—is the stuff of legend.

A retreat and a respite for Allied naval and merchant marine officers between sailings on the North Atlantic run, it became forever known as the Crow’s Nest after a Canadian army colonel, gasping from his upward trek, mopped his beaded brow and uttered the immortal words: “Crikey, this is a snug little crow’s nest.”

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Displays at The Fort Garry Horse Museum and Archives. [Fort Garry Museum and Archives]

An armchair tour of The Fort Garry Horse Museum and Archives

STORY BY ALEX BOWERS

“We have a rich history,” said Gord Crossley, director of the Winnipeg-based Fort Garry Horse Museum and Archives, of its namesake regiment. “We like to say that we have more battle honours than any other armoured formation in Canada.”

The 43-year unit veteran knows such realities better than most. Since the earliest days of its inception in 1912—and arguably before—The Fort Garry Horse has distinguished itself at home and overseas, from its service in the Great War’s trenches—yes, trenches—to its sword-drawn cavalry charges to its mechanized role in D-Day and beyond. In everything it has accomplished during the ensuing years and decades—be it in Germany, Latvia or Petawawa, Ont.—Crossley’s former regiment has lived up to its motto, Facta non verba or Deeds not words.

Words, however, have their place. Having been involved with the museum for some 34 years, Crossey continues to tell the unit’s story, one battle honour at a time. Here, in an armchair tour of the site, he highlights it anew.

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